An educator, scholar, and engineer, Victoria Concepción Chávez is passionate about accessibility, computer science education, and social justice.
Otherie Love (1920–2022) was a trailblazing educator, writer, and historian who was known as a voracious reader and lifelong learner. She made history in 1941 when she became the first African American student teacher in Evanston/Skokie School District 65 while studying at Northwestern University.
Alejandra Frausto Aceves (PhD26) used hands-on, community-involved methods to study how diasporic families engage in sophisticated teaching and learning.
In 1926, the legendary U.S. Route 66 was established, A. A. Milne published his beloved children's book Winnie-the-Pooh, and Henry Ford implemented a pioneering 40-hour work week at his automobile factory.
The first-ever NetLogo user conference for both researchers and K-12 teachers runs June 29 to July 1 in Chicago at the University of Illinois at Chicago, bringing together the diverse communities of NetLogo users and agent-based modelers to share, learn, and make connections.
Northwestern University has launched a new center to improve and maintain NetLogo, a widely used scientific and educational software tool, and to promote literacy in scientific modeling.
Fourteen new PhDs were honored and gifted regalia before the 2026 convocation celebration during the third annual doctoral robing ceremony at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy.
Northwestern University’s Anusha Kumar, an honors student who studied social policy, received a U.S. Student Fulbright Award to teach English in Linz, Austria.
Graduating seniors Sara Peña Figueroa and Denzel Higiro emceed 2026 Convocation ceremonies, closing in unison with the cheer "Mama, we made it!" — a reference to a career-focused podcast Higiro started at The Garage.
From our highest-ever U.S. News & World Report ranking to the first graduates of two news master's programs, it was a breakthrough year at the School of Education and Social Policy.
Lea Kalkowski's senior honors thesis grew from her experience interning at a legal advocacy nonprofit. After helping more than 70 people through the process of expungement — clearing a criminal conviction from the record — Kalkowski wanted to dig deeper into the issues around implementing policy.
Charles Logan (PhD26) had just finished encouraging his audience to resist using artificial intelligence and “learn from the Luddites” when a voice called out from the back of the room.
Northwestern University Professor Emeritus Allan Meakin Collins, a major force in the field of learning sciences and cognitive science, died April 20, 2026, after a short illness. He was 88 years old.
Entrepreneur and alumnus Jamie Sahara, one of the world’s sharpest thinkers in insurance and risk management, will deliver the 2026 convocation address for Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.
Alumna Sloane Barry (BS22) and partner Brennan Hellmers appeared on Shark Tank, pitching SOMNIA+, a bed expander kit designed to make narrow dorm beds more functional and comfortable without replacing the mattress or using tools.
Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) has earned its highest-ever ranking — No. 2 among graduate schools of education in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Northwestern University Professor Sepehr Vakil contributed to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that offers strategies for integrating data and computing into K-12 education.
Professor Mesmin Destin was named a senior fellow with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, joining a national effort to bridge the gap between what young people need to thrive and what high school currently delivers.
They call it work for a reason: It’s drudgery, something to slog through until payday. Or maybe you love your job—work is your passion, your identity and nearly all you do. Alumna Bree Groff (MSLOC14) offers a third way to think about how we spend five-sevenths of our week: What if work were simply more fun?
Professor Lauren Tighe’s Child and Family Policy class took one of Dilla’s Mahogany Tours through Bronzeville on the South Side, connecting the policy they learned in the classroom with the communities those ideas shape.
Fungi and their vast, unseen networks can teach us a thing or two about relationships and well-being, professor Carrie Tzou (PhD08) said after a free screening of the documentary “Fungi: Web of Life” in Annenberg Hall.
Smartphones and social media are making our emotional lives “choppier” by speeding up and intensifying the information we receive, stress researcher Emma Adam said during a recent Northwestern University conference on social and emotional well-being in a digital world.
Alumna Carrie Tzou (PhD08), whose career has focused on helping students and educators feel connected to science and place-based learning, has joined Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy as a professor of learning sciences and associate dean.
Undergraduates Keya Soni Chaudhuri and Symone Harris have been named to the 2025-2026 cohort of Block Museum Student Associates at Northwestern University.
Strength lies not in uniformity but in respectful diversity, graduate Zixin Ling said during convocation remarks for Northwestern University’s Master of Science in Social and Economic Policy program at the Ryan Family Auditorium.
Stories from 2025 that highlight our community, research, and faculty excellence.
Gail Berger, a former instructor at the School of Education and Social Policy, has passed away. She died peacefully, surrounded by her family.
School of Education and Social Policy faculty members Paula Olszewski-Kubilius and Susan Corwith, leaders of Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, have been recognized for their work in the field of gifted education.
Our new Master's in Technology, People, and Policy program explores how emerging technologies are shaping society—bringing together the technical, human, and policy dimensions of today’s most advanced digital tools.
MacArthur Foundation President John Palfrey was the featured speaker for Northwestern University’s annual Loeschner Leadership Lecture Series.
Dominique Duval-Diop has joined the faculty for the School of Education and Social Policy's Master’s in Technology, People, and Policy program at Northwestern.
John Palfrey, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is the featured speaker for the 2025 Ray and Nancy Loeschner Lecture Series on Leadership on Nov. 19 at Northwestern University.
As a freshman, Adrienne Scheide nearly always wore a classic pink beret which made her something of a campus celebrity.
Senior Adrian Ayala-Perez is making the most out of his opportunities at Northwestern.
Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy has launched a new initiative to explore how rapid technological change can be guided by both scientific research and values of fairness, ethics, and social good.
School of Education and Social Policy Dean Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy will speak with Pulitzer Prize-winner Kathleen DuVal during the 40th annual Printers Row Lit Fest—the largest literary festival in the Midwest and one of the longest-running in the country.
Aaron Olson and BK Simerson, co-authors of Strategy and Change, will discuss how business leaders can make insightful decisions and manage risk in unpredictable environments.
Zuviriya Anarwala may be preparing to teach English, but that’s just one of six languages she speaks. A self-described “lover of languages,” she also speaks Gujarati (her native language), Hindi, Urdu, Turkish and Arabic.
When Julia Narvaez Munguia arrived at Northwestern, she faced a tough decision: journalism or education and social policy?
More than two dozen of the world’s most promising emerging scholars in science education gathered at Northwestern University's Evanston campus for the 2025 Sandra K. Abell Institute for Doctoral Students.
Sarah Futa was a 45-year-old single mom of four when she returned to graduate school to refresh her skills and reclaim a part of herself that had long been missing.
A dozen new PhDs were honored and gifted regalia before the 2025 convocation celebration during the second annual doctoral robing ceremony at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.
Award-winning writer and choreographer Larissa FastHorse encouraged graduates to say “no” at times when others may feel forced into a “yes” during her 2025 convocation address at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.
Amanda Litman is on a mission to help young people run for political office. For the brave souls who do, she offers a warning: Prepare to be unpopular.
Applications are open for Northwestern University’s new Master of Science in Organizational Dynamics (MOD) for recent college graduates seeking to become leaders in learning, change, and innovation across today’s complex workplaces.
Northwestern undergraduates wrestled with complex challenges in early childhood education before presenting policy recommendations to the Mayor's Office.
A new Northwestern University-powered scholarship initiative is designed to help Evanston students find and join high-quality after-school or summer programs.
The BitCrush Music + Code Competition, a new kind of performance, debuts on May 10 at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center in Evanston as part of a day celebrating science, technology engineering, math and music.
An upcoming Northwestern University symposium will examine the influence of artificial intelligence on teachers, students and learning environments.
Trailblazing playwright and choreographer Larissa FastHorse, whose work blends sharp humor with social commentary, will deliver the 2025 convocation address.
Zenzile Riddick, whose research straddles education, history and Black Studies, has joined the School of Education and Social Policy as assistant professor of human development and social policy.
Bryan Brayboy, Dean of Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy and the Carlos Montezuma Professor, will deliver a keynote for the 7th annual Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR) research symposium.
Chicago middle school students explored virtual welding, robotics, and more at FUSE FUTURES, a celebration of science, technology, engineering, arts and math programs and career paths at Richard J. Daley College.
Sociologist Angela Dixon, whose current research investigates how lives and families are transformed by loss, has joined Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy as assistant professor of learning sciences.
Tech policy experts Nicol Turner Lee and Nik Marda will be teaching classes for the School of Education and Social Policy’s newest offering, the Master’s in Technology, People, and Policy program.
Undergraduate students will be able to complete their practicum through the Global Engagement Summer Institute (GESI) study abroad program beginning in summer of 2025.
Early exposure to civic education is essential to a functioning society, but it’s often taught too late in life or not at all, according to Matt Easterday, associate professor of learning sciences at Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy.
Alumna Stefanie DeLuca (PhD02), a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University and one of the nation’s leading experts on housing mobility, vouchers, and policy will be joining Northwestern’s Institute for Policy Research as its inaugural visiting scholar in May 2025.
School of Education and Social Policy alumna and basketball standout Nia Coffey (BS17) was one of nine Wildcats inducted into the Northwestern Athletics Hall of Fame.
In a world where academics and stand-up comics rarely share the stage, the new podcast A Professor and a Comedian Walk Into a Bar is doing something unique: mixing scholarly insights with humor.
When professor Kirabo Jackson first arrived at the White House last year, he had flashbacks to his intense grad school days.
Americans are living longer lives. Some view this as a gift, others – not so much. Why?
Kaylyn Ahn won a prestigious 2025 Marshall Scholarship to study public policy at the University of Oxford in England. Ahn, the first School of Education and Social Policy student to receive the award, is Northwestern’s 29th overall winner.
The School of Education and Social Policy received a $1 million gift from the Kapor Foundation to help create the Center for Technology, Policy, and Opportunity at Northwestern University.
For Denise Si Rui Tan, graduate school often felt like a marathon—daunting, intense, and exhausting. But by the end of her journey earning two master’s degrees in two different cultures, she was forever changed.
Most of us have seen a bright flash of lightning streak across the sky, but have we ever wondered where the lightning comes from or why it strikes where it does?
Sociologist Musa al-Gharbi, the author of We Have Never Been Woke: The Contradictions of a New Elite, emphasized the importance of diverse perspectives and the challenges of ideological diversity in academia during the 2024 Ray and Nancy Loeschner Lecture Series on Leadership at Northwestern University.
The application period is open for the SESP/Medill Education Journalism Collaborative, which pairs three working journalists with master’s students on education projects.
The violence in Bangladesh during student-led anti-government protests in August deeply affected Adrija Bhattacharjee, a graduate student at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy.
Sociologist Musa al-Gharbi, who argues that many who embrace progressive “social justice” causes actively benefit from and perpetuate the inequalities they decry, is the featured speaker for the 2024 Ray and Nancy Loeschner Lecture Series on Leadership at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 21 at Northwestern University.
Northwestern University received a $1.2 million award from the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program to provide scholarships to undergraduate STEM majors who want to pursue teaching in high-needs school districts.
Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy is launching a practicum experience in Sydney, Australia, beginning in January 2025.
AI's ability to instantaneously generate content is threatening student creativity, especially during the college application process, Elizabeth Shulman wrote in an opinion piece in Newsweek.
School of Education and Social Policy student athletes and alumni returned from the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics with medals, career bests, and unforgettable experiences. Here’s a quick update on how our athletes did.
When David Rapp was in high school, he worked in one of his favorite places in the world: The public library. There, the teenager was put in charge of literary classics, magazines, science fiction, and humor sections, all genres he still adores.
Softball Hall of Famer Tammy Williams wasn’t quite sure which direction to take her career after graduation. She kept playing her sport at elite levels, earned a master’s in business administration, and soon realized she had a knack for both numbers and helping people.
The 2024 Olympic Games begin Friday, July 26, followed by the Paralympic Games on Aug. 28. Of the 13 athletes and two coaches affiliated with Northwestern University, four have a connection with the School of Education and Social Policy.
Alumna Renetta McCann, a global leader in advertising, media, and organizational change, will receive the alumni medal, Northwestern University’s Alumni Association’s highest honor.
Thirty-seven student athletes from Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy earned Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recognition in 2023-24, setting a new School record.
Faculty members and alumni co-authored a new National Academies' report on equity in science education, reflecting the School’s leadership in the field of learning sciences and STEM education.
Developmental psychologist Claudia Haase received the 19th annual Dorothy Ann and Clarence L. Ver Steeg Distinguished Research Fellowship Award for her work probing the mysteries behind emotions and relationships.
Avery Hirschfield, who studied learning and organizational change and minored in psychology, received the School of Education and Social Policy’s Alumni Leadership Award for her work as president and co-director of the Global Engagement Summit, a student-led conference uniting entrepreneurs across the world.
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Mitchell S. Jackson encouraged graduates to reflect on the meaning of “human” and use it as a verb during his 2024 convocation address at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy (SESP).
Difficult ethical and moral questions will play a central role in whether artificial intelligence will expand opportunities and equity in STEM education or make things worse, professor Sepehr Vakil said during his closing keynote at a National Science Foundation convening of principal investigators.
On the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision, Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy and the Pritzker School of Law explore the lingering impact of 1950s integration policies on today’s students.
Anxiety, identity, and mentorship emerged as key themes for honors students at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy, who were recognized during a faculty meeting and presented their work at a poster session.
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Mitchell S. Jackson talked about the liberating power of fiction and his techniques for profiling famously polarizing figures during a wide-ranging conversation with Dean Bryan Brayboy.
David Uttal was 13 years old when he took a wrong turn on a hiking trail in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Rescuers searched for him on foot, trail bike, jeep, and by air, probing thick underbrush and steep ridges across 60,000 acres.
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Mitchell S. Jackson, the John O. Whiteman Dean’s Distinguished Professorship in the English Department of Arizona State University, will be the featured speaker during the 2024 School of Education and Social Policy Convocation ceremony at Northwestern University.
Megan Bang and Uri Wilensky were elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies.
Undergraduates Alivia Britton (left) and Mel McDaniel are co-chairs of Northwestern University’s annual student-run Spring Pow Wow, an intergenerational cultural celebration sponsored by the Native American and Indigenous Student Alliance.
Alumni Kathryn “Kate” Bowman and Neva Legallet are working for Bay Area city government as part of the San Francisco Fellows program.
For the second year in a row, Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) has been ranked among the top five graduate schools of education according to the 2024-25 U.S. News and World Report Best Education Graduate Schools rankings.
Excitement is building as Northwestern begins preparations on one of the University’s top priorities, to turn the Donald P. Jacobs Center into a new hub for the social sciences and global studies.
When Renetta McCann was inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Fame last year, some of her admirers created a website, filled with such tributes to the trailblazer as “Thanks for lifting as you climb,” and “So glad she’s in my corner.”
Beginning in September 2024, the School of Education and Social Policy’s Master’s in Learning and Organizational Change (MSLOC) program will offer a one-year degree path.
The Northwestern Education Journalism Initiative is looking for two professional journalists to work with two graduate students each, starting in late March 2024.
OiYan Poon spoke to SESP students on race based admissions, commonly called affirmative action.
Native scholars and law professionals, including School of Education and Social Policy Dean Bryan Brayboy and professor Megan Bang, participated in the conference “100 Years Back, 100 Years Forward: Sovereignty, Community, and Indigenous Futures,” at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.
Ruha Benjamin wants us to reckon with the impossible. A world without prisons? Schools that foster the genius of every child?
Calling her own 17-month experience an “epic adventure,” Ning Yu urged her classmates to embrace adversity and turn obstacles into opportunities during her Master of Science in Social and Economic Policy convocation remarks at Northwestern University’s Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall.
Scholar and author OiYan Poon will lead a conversation about race, education, and leadership for a diverse democracy in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to strike down race-conscious college admissions.
School of Education and Social Policy professor Mesmin Destin was appointed the inaugural faculty director of student access and enrichment.
Ritu Tripathi, an expert in organizational behavior and cross-cultural psychology, has joined Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy as assistant professor of instruction.
In response to the rapidly changing journalism industry, Northwestern University has launched a new five-year dual degree program between the School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) and Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
Georgia Rose Munns (BS09), whose career brought incredible success to the women’s tennis program, has been named assistant women’s tennis coach at Northwestern University.
Scholars Ana Paula Melo and Tommy Wells have been named early career visiting fellows at Northwestern University's Center for Education Efficacy, Excellence, and Equity (E4) for the 2023-24 academic year.
Twenty-five Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy athletes earned Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recognition, an award given to students who maintain a grade point average of 3.70 or higher and earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition in the previous academic year.
Ekpedeme “Pamay” Bassey challenged School of Education and Social Policy graduates to embrace the power of lifelong learning, ask hard questions, and practice “everyday courage” during the 2023 convocation celebration at Northwestern University’s Ryan Fieldhouse.
Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy celebrated students who received doctorates during the annual convocation ceremony at Ryan Fieldhouse.
Five SESP faculty members with wide-ranging research interests were promoted for their outstanding scholarship and contributions to the field.
Northwestern University alumna Ekpedeme “Pamay” Bassey, chief learning and diversity officer for the Kraft Heinz Company, will be the featured speaker during the 2023 School of Education and Social Policy Convocation ceremony.
Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) was ranked No. 3 in the 2023-24 U.S. News and World Report Best Education Graduate Schools rankings.
Sneha Kumar, a social demographer whose research explores health inequalities across the life course in some of the most populous countries in the world–including Indonesia, India, China, and Brazil– has joined Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy as an assistant professor of human development and social policy.
Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy (Lumbee) of Arizona State University has been named dean of Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy, effective June 1.
Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, one of the world’s leading figures in the field of talent development and gifted education, is retiring after nearly four decades at Northwestern University.
Roger Schank, an outspoken theorist and researcher in artificial intelligence and cognitive science, founded the interdisciplinary Institute for the Learning Sciences (ILS) at Northwestern University in 1989. His vision gave birth to an entirely new interdisciplinary field of academic research: Learning Sciences.
The School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) is launching a new iteration of MAPSCorps, a national model for training and employing high school and college students to work in STEM as community data scientists.
The world’s first cohort of students to earn a dual master’s degree in applied economics and social and economic policy received their diplomas on Dec. 9, 2022, at Northwestern University’s McCormick Auditorium during a ceremony that highlighted the importance of cross-cultural understanding.
Northwestern University’s leadership coaching certificate for experienced professionals has been recognized by the non-profit Center for Credentialing and Education (CCE).
Northwestern University President Michael Schill met with Interim Dean Dan P. McAdams, students, faculty, and staff and learned about several of SESP’s research initiatives and programs during his first visit to the School of Education and Social Policy.
Northwestern University’s Brian Reiser, whose life work has helped make science education more relevant and meaningful for children, has been appointed the Orrington Lunt Professor of Education and Social Policy.
School of Education and Social Policy alumna Nichole Pinkard (PhD98), a leading thinker on the design of educational ecosystems, was appointed the inaugural Alice Hamilton Professor of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.
Hannes Schwandt, an economist who studies the relationships between health, wealth, and overall well-being, has been promoted to associate professor of human development and social policy at the School of Education and Social Policy.
Northwestern University sociologist Lilah Shapiro, who is known for inspiring her students to think carefully and critically about their responsibilities in our complex world, has been promoted to associate professor of instruction at the School of Education and Social Policy.
Undergraduates at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy have a new option for their junior year practicum: Milan, Italy.
Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) has opened a new pathway for aspiring teachers by creating a concentration in undergraduate elementary teaching that follows an interdisciplinary curriculum.
Psychologist Terri Sabol, who examines how classrooms, families and neighborhoods impact a child’s early development, has been promoted to associate professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.
Michael Horn, whose research has modernized museums and introduced musical approaches to coding, has been promoted to full professor at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.
Northwestern University’s Kimberly Scott was named associate dean for innovation and program development at the School of Education and Social Policy, Interim Dean Dan P. McAdams announced.
Scholar Na’ilah Suad Nasir urged graduates to help build a “true multicultural democracy” by rethinking the status quo during the School of Education and Social Policy’s 2022 convocation celebration at Northwestern University’s Ryan Fieldhouse.
Eight Northwestern University graduate students recently reached the pinnacle of education, earning doctoral degrees in three of the School of Education and Social Policy's pioneering programs: Learning Sciences, Human Development and Social Policy, and Computer Science and Learning Sciences (CS + LS), a joint degree with the McCormick School of Engineering.
Northwestern University’s Tabitha Bonilla, a political scientist who studies how communication influences public support for policies, has been promoted to associate professor of human development and social policy at the School of Education and Social Policy.
The Potocsnak family has made a new multimillion-dollar gift to Northwestern in honor of President Morton Schapiro, who concludes his tenure in August after 13 years at the University.
Na’ilah Suad Nasir, president of the Chicago-based Spencer Foundation, will address more than 300 undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral graduates during the 2022 School of Education and Social Policy Convocation ceremony.
Na’ilah Suad Nasir, president of the Chicago-based Spencer Foundation, will address more than 300 undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral graduates during the 2022 School of Education and Social Policy Convocation ceremony.
Sixteen Northwestern University graduate students earned doctoral degrees in three of the School of Education and Social Policy's pioneering programs: Learning Sciences, Human Development and Social Policy, and Computer Science and Learning Sciences (CS + LS), a joint degree with the McCormick School of Engineering.
Dan P. McAdams, one of the nation's foremost researchers in the field of narrative psychology, has been named interim dean of Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy.
Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy is launching a six-week certificate course to help teachers incorporate important social and emotional learning skills into the classroom.
The University of Rochester today named David Figlio as its next provost, effective July 1, 2022.